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Research Methods: Annotated Bibliographies

Basic Approach to a Research Project

Annotated Bibliographies

Annotated Bibliographies

Developing an annotated bibliography is a good way to keep track of why you have scanned, photocopied, printed out, saved, or emailed some book, chapter, article, website, or other source of information to yourself.  It can serve as a way to begin an outline of your paper and to locate the reference needed at each point in your paper.

What Is an Annotated Bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources (may be any variety of materials, books, documents, videos, articles, web sites, CD-ROMs, etc.) with an accompanying paragraph that describes, explains, and/or evaluates each entry in terms of quality, authority, and relevance. 

What Is the Purpose of an Annotated Bibliography?

An annotated bibliography may serve a number of purposes, including but not limited to:

A review of the literature on a particular subject

Illustrate the quality of research that you have done

Provide examples of the types of sources available

Describe other items on a topic that may be of interest to the reader

Explore the subject for further research

The annotated bibliography may be selective or comprehensive in its coverage. A selective annotated bibliography includes just those items that are best for the topic while an exhaustive annotated bibliography attempts to identify all that is available on a subject.  --Skidmore College. Lucy Scribner Library.

Here is assistance in creating an annotated bibliography.